Debre Markos University

College of Business and Economics

Department of Accounting
Business Law Group Assignment

Group 6

Name

1,Tewoflos Aleka ............................... ... ....1308371

2,Wondu Shambel........................................1306178
3,Wotetu Asefa............................................. 1310022
4,Wudie Manaye............................................ 1306191
5,Yabineh Tibebe.......................................... 1306558
6,Yeshibelayi Demsew................................. 1306573
7,Zewdu Mengst........................................... 1308445
8,Natnael Abate.............................. ............. 1307792
 Submitted to: Dr.>>

Submission Date: jan/ 25/ 2023

1) Under slavery, birth were not sufficient for the acquisition of personality.
Explain the statement.

In the past, not all people were considered to be persons. There have been times
throughout human society's history when slaves were merely viewed as property.
Even if at some extent, today, all people are now view all living things as equal, and
the concept of personality has already transformed.
So to explain why birth were not sufficient for the acquisition of personality it is
better to start with the history of slavery and why , where it was started. Then we can
show the reason of the problem we are facing.

slaves were seen as property rather than citizens, birth alone was not enough to confer
personality. They lacked the ability to contract or own property legally. As property
of their owners, slaves were unable to own anything on their own. Therefore, a slave's
personality could not be developed just by virtue of birth at the time of slavery.

Slavery has been practiced in many forms throughout history and in every continent.
All racial, gender, and age categories are impacted. Until the United Nations General
Assembly adopted the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which stated that
freedom from slavery is a universal human right and that it is to be forbidden in all
forms, it was not illegal anywhere in the world.

Enslavement has existed historically in a variety of forms, including chattel, bonded

labor, forced labor, and sexual slavery. Everyone may agree that the loss of freedom
of movement and legal rights is one of slavery's fundamental characteristics.

Slavery emerged in the ancient world due to a variety of factors, including economic
necessity particularly in societies and agricultural economies where bigger labor
forces were required. Another element was dominance. Gold and other prizes of war
were not the only things created; individuals could also be taken as slaves, which later
turned into a status symbol. The more slaves you owned, the more wealthy and
powerful you were.
To clarify my view point let me pick good and the very ancient history from the
bible,One of the earliest known recorded accounts of slaves gaining liberation is
found in the Old Testament story, the well-known biblical narrative of the Exodus, in
which Moses led the Israelite to freedom. According to archaeologists, this event took
place during the New Kingdom era (1550-712 BC). One of the few advanced
civilizations with a slave-based economy was Egypt, in which peoples of Israelite
were slaved. According to the narration, peoples of Israel were extremely under slave
by Egyptians, even a new born child was killed if the child is male and an Israel, this
shows that even birth were not sufficient for acquisition of personality. Laws
regulating the connection between slave and master included various limitations, such
as the inability of slave owners to subject young slaves to too strenuous physical
labor. There were no slave marketplaces, and government officials had to be present
for any deal involving the purchase or sale of slaves.

Although according to different references let me show what is birth and whether it
can be or not sufficient for acquisition of personality and then we can distinguish the
personality acquisition under slavery and with out slavery.

The word "birth" may lead to various ambiguities in meaning. Birth is described as
"the act of being entirely brought into distinct life" in Black's Law Dictionary. "When
is a child regarded as existing separately?" The entire extrusion of the infant from his
mother's womb and the cutting of the umbilical cord are typically distinguished in this
regard. In any case, the child is now considered a person in the legal sense, and in the
end, the day of birth will be proven through medical documentation. But during the
time of slavery birth was not sufficient for personality, it doesn’t indicate the
definition of birth so we can say under slavery if a person is born from the slaves then
it is not going to be considered as man kind in which it doesn’t support the definition
of birth in the above.

The other scenario that needs to be addressed is whether a person's legal existence
begins at birth without the requirement of viability, or the capacity to survive outside
of the body.

According to many scholars this is basically has two interpretations given let me see
both of them, in accordance with the first interpretation, birth is the only requirement
for the acquisition of personality; the question of viability only comes up as an
exception when the interest of the conceived child necessitates the provisional
acquisition of personality under the requirements that the child be born "alive" and
"viable,". And according to the second interpretation, a kid must always be born alive
and viable in order to develop personality.A child is considered viable if they live for
48 hours after birth. Being born alive is undoubtedly a necessary requirement for
viability.
Because they contend that we cannot utilize interpretation if the law is unambiguous,
many lawyers back the first interpretation. In actuality, the provision is made even if
the infant passes away within the first year of life, which can happen as early as 48
hours after delivery. A child's death within this time frame might not have been
noteworthy if personality hadn't developed before 48 hours.

Supporters of the first interpretation contend that a stillborn infant, for instance, is not
considered born since it lacks individuality. Contrary to popular opinion, even if a
child hasn't been alive for 48 hours, it is still necessary to declare their birth. confirms
that a child's personality must be recorded, no matter how briefly.

There fore according to historical data it is known that birth was not sufficient to be
considered as person (the acquisition of personality), and in the first interpretation
context birth is sufficient to personality and, since at the time of slavery it is known
that personality were not given by only birth rather it was also considered with the
ancestors personality.

2) How is the term person defined in our community Ethiopia. Does your
community attribute personality to a tribe, a class, a family, or a common
linkage.

Before the description of specific question let me show what does it means
personality in the international law and then what about in our community,
International law uses the concept of person-hood to distinguish between various
social actors, similar to how municipal law does.The legal system considers it and
disallows it. However, no one has distinctly developed international law because of
the characteristics of the international legal system. There are several perspectives on
precisely which entities are considered persons under international law, how
personality is acquired, and what particular repercussions this status entails.

The term "person" is used to translate "physical" persons because the Amharic text
generally does not make a distinction between the two terms. This appears to be
caused by the absence of distinction between a person in the legal sense and a person
in the common sense (a human being).
Additionally, it makes no distinction between personality and person. But it doesn't
lead to any significant issues. Speaking of a person's personality and the rights they
possess is equivalent to speaking of a person's personality or of a person's and the
rights they possess they are quite similar.

The Ethiopian Civil Code establishes the starting point for human personality.
It starts at birth, as was mentioned explicitly. The human person is the subject of
rights from birth to death. When the article says that a person is "the subject of
rights," it signifies that people have rights from the moment of their birth. Therefore,
in theory, a natural person's personality starts at birth and ends with death.
There is therefore no personality prior to birth or following death. A child is
completely expelled from its mother's womb at birth. It doesn't matter if the extrusion
was brought on by a natural process or a surgical procedure. Individuality is bestowed
solely by birth. There are no additional restrictions outlined in this regard. A newborn
human child is immediately a person. In addition, because rights and obligations are
two sides of the same coin, a person's obligations start the moment they are born.

According to the the traditional meaning of personality as we all know peoples of

Ethiopia give a great and an interesting emphasis, traditionally, they give a respect
even before birth and after death.

Personality is shown in Ethiopian peoples in their tradition such that they treat any
person as he/she is only a person, so we cannot say that in Ethiopia the community
attributes personality to a tribe, a class, a family or a common linkage. The peoples
don’t relate or attach the sense of personality with any classifications of human being,
simply most of the community accept a person as he/she has born.

Therefore according to the two interpretations of personality in question number one

our community accepts the first interpretation of acquisition of personality that is:
birth is the only requirement for the acquisition of personality. So it is not preferable
to say Ethiopian communities attach personality with other viability context or
thoughts, and also a tribe, a class, a family or a common linkage